OREANDA-NEWS. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against 17 citizens of Russia and seven Russian companies for “malicious cyber activities”.

“Today the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against Evil Corp, the Russia-based cybercriminal organization responsible for the development and distribution of the Dridex malware,” the statement published on December 5 on the agency’s website says.

It is noted that these action is connected with 17 individuals and seven organizations, including Evil Corp and its main cybernetic operators. The agency said that the sanctioning Evil Corp is carried out as part of a “sweeping action against one of the most prolific cybercriminal organizations.”

“This coordinated action is intended to disrupt the massive phishing campaigns orchestrated by this Russian-based hacker group,” Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, said.

Earlier on the same day, US officials pressed charges against two Russian citizens suspected of cybercrime. According to the indictment, Maxim Yakubets and Igor Turashev are accused of fraud organized for the misappropriation of money and property by installing malicious software on computers. It is assumed that Yakubets was the organizer of this scheme, which operated since November 2011. The Treasury Department’s publication says that “the group’s leader, Maksim Yakubets, also provides direct assistance to the Russian government’s malicious cyber efforts, highlighting the Russian government’s enlistment of cybercriminals for its own malicious purposes.”